I just returned from the one week-long trip to California. It was not a very well-planned, last-minute trip.
I flew to Los Angeles and took my time driving to San Francisco along with California State Route #1. I stayed for a night in Morro Bay and it took me two days to get to San Francisco.
I spent the rest of the trip around San Francisco and at the very end of my stay, I took a one day trip to Yosemite.
It was supposed to be a short and relaxing trip but when I was returning the rental car at San Jose airport, ready to fly back to Montreal, I realized that in 7 days I drove for 3000km (1800 miles).
Loc: 36.348258, -121.896807
Shooting
In general, the trip was not too favorable with regards to photography. The weather was hot with hazy air and absolutely no clouds for the duration of the trip. The only exception was the afternoon of the last day of the trip just when I was ready to fly home.
When I saw a clear sky with the clouds, I took a short drive to Big Sur area and was rewarded with some interesting shots.
I stopped the car at the side of the road and took a couple of bracketed shots. It took me less than 5min and I was on the way to the next vista.
- Camera: Sony a6000
- Lens: Sony-10-18
- Focal Length: 18mm
- Shooting Mode: Aperture Priority (A)
- ISO: 100
- Aperture: F10
- Shutter: 1/200s
- Bracketing: 3 (-1, 0, 1)
- Tripod: FEISOL Tournament CT-3442
- Ballhead: FEISOL CB-40D
Processing
It was a single RAW file editing.
The main goal for this photo was to convey the experience of the road trip through the Southwest. I used the road as the leading path into the composition.
The Natural preset from my Landscape Collection does exactly that and it was an easy choice. I applied Natural first and after I used TOOLKIT to boost colors and contrast.
The Lightroom Preset Editing Formula: Natural (1, 9, 12, 16, 20, 31)
Photoshop: color correction, contrast, cleaning.
Photoshop Plugins:
- Topaz DeNoise was used to reduce digital noise (sky).
- Topaz Clarity was used to enhance details and boost colors (foreground, mountains).
